It has been the practice in the television industry to employ a hand-held crimping tool to attach the standard fitting onto the end of a coaxial cable, and the fitting can then be threadedly connected into the mated fitting or terminal on the television set. Presently, crimping tools are designed to crimp or reduce the size of the connector sleeve on the cable side of the fitting into a generally hexagonal or six-sided configuration in attaching the fitting to the end of the cable. A major problem with the hexagonal crimp, however, is that it does not completely seal off the end of the cable and permits air and moisture to enter by way of the cable end which can affect the quality of the picture and gradually erode the cable itself.
It has been proposed to radially compress fittings into a generally circular configuration and, for example, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,864 to A. J. Tarpill which is designed specifically for use in radially compressing ribbed connector sleeves and wherein the axial length of the connector sleeve is uniformly reduced in diameter to a size which will engage the cable end. Other patents of interest in this field are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,417,599 to W. C. Burns, 4,043,174 to A. J. Paolino, 4,266,219 to M. A. Grundfest, 4,292,833 to E. W. Lapp, 4,790,068 to K. Sato, 4,794,780 to K. Battenfeld, 4,885,928 to E. H. Davis et al and 4,953,384 to A. Baillet et al.
In applying an axially directed force to the fitting, as opposed to direct radial compression, it has been found that leverage can be substantially improved through the use of a ratchet mechanism while at the same time reducing the range of motion or throw of the lever arm compared to that of a straight lever action to the connector-engaging member.